Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Visiting the Lighthouse:
Since it's a working lighthouse, it can be toured only with
a guide. Fine 30-minute tours leave hourly. When you're inside—seeing the lighthouse's
black-stained, ribbed, vaulted ceilings and stout, 10-foot-thick walls—you can almost feel
the presence of the Cistercian monks who tended this coal-burning beacon for the Nor-
mans. Climbing 115 steps through four levels rewards you with a breezy, salt-air view
from the top.
The Curse of Cromwell
The scariest bogeyman in all of Irish history was Oliver Cromwell. In 1649, he led
Parliamentary forces to victory in the English Civil War and had King Charles I be-
headed. Assuming the title of Lord Protector, he created a commonwealth (instead
of a kingdom) and initiated one of the longest periods in the past 1,000 years in
which England functioned without a monarch. Cromwell then turned his attention
to Ireland, determined to root out the last royalists loyal to the English monarchy
and to punish the Irish for the 1641 massacre of Protestant settlers.
